ST. LOUIS -- Kirby Criswell, the St. Louis Cardinals defensive end convicted of drug charges, said his sentence of five years in prison was influenced by a recent article on drug use in the NFL.
Criswell, in a copyright story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sunday, connected his sentence with former defensive end Don Reese's first-person article in Sports Illustrated on drug problems. Reese, convicted of selling drugs, got a reduced sentence and early parole.
'The story came out the Monday before the Friday I got sentenced,' said Criswell, 24. 'He happened to play defensive end, too. He had been shown leniency by a judge.
Criswell agreed with Reese that cocaine is readily available to NFL rookies. He said he began using cocaine obtained from 'alumni, businessmen who were around' as a University of Kansas senior in 1979 - the year he was an All-America honorable mention as a stand-up defensive end. A $70,000 signing bonus from the Cincinnati Bengals, who picked him as their second-round draft choice in 1980, put him in the income bracket to afford his own cocaine, he said.
'I could afford the luxury of coke just like you buying a bottle of hooch,' said Criswell, who said he used marijuana in high school at Grinnell, Iowa. 'I went to training camp with a quart (a quarter-ounce) of cocaine. It was gone before I got there.'
The Bengals released Criswell before the season started and the Green Bay Packers picked him up briefly and released him. The Cardinals signed him as a free agent in November 1980, changing him from linebacker to defensive end.
Criswell was injured in a scrimmage in late July and spent most of last season on the injured reserve list. He said he used cocaine extensively during that time.
'It became the only thing in my life,' he said. 'The only thing that mattered was getting money and doing it with my friends, my cocaine friends.'
Jim Hanifan, head coach of the Cardinals, became aware of Criswell's problem. Criswell saw a doctor at his request and said he beat his problem by February.
In April Criswell and a neighbor, Dorian Groff, a chiropractic student, were arrested in a federal drug raid on their apartments. Criswell was charged with conspiracy to make and distribute methamphetamines. He told the Post-Dispatch he was not involved in the conspiracy.
Criswell said he knew some teammates used cocaine but refused to identify them or say whether use was widespread among the Cardinals. He told the newspaper he has given up drugs.
'If I hadn't been involved with that and some of my friends, who weren't my friends but just people to smoke marijuana with and snort (cocaine) with, I really believe I'd be an All-Pro linebacker right now with the Cincinnati Bengals and would have helped them win the Super Bowl last year,' said Criswell.
